This blog has nothing to do with gorillas (though I love 'em)...fellow bloggers have inspired me to share vintage images of Disneyland from my personal collection. But don't be surprised if you see something from a World's Fair, Knott's Berry Farm, or someplace else that is cool!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

It's time for another random selection of photos from the 1964/65 New York World's Fair!

Folks came from all over to marvel at the wonders of this amazing Fair. Of course, this couple could easily have lived right there in Queens, too! If this photo makes you wish you had an ice cream cone, I'm with you. Notice the queue in the background with the blue and white covering - that was the line for Progressland. Take a look at this photo and you'll see what I mean.

The Swiss Sky Ride would have been a "must ride" for me! Here's a nice look at the station near the Swiss pavilion - the other station was across the fairgrounds near the Korea pavilion. The maximum height reached was 113 feet, which is pretty darn high.

If you're going to have big successful companies participating in your World's Fair, then Coca Cola needs to be included. The tower with the Coke logo held the world's largest carillion, with 610 bells that were electronically amplified. Who doesn't love a carillion?!? One exhibit inside the building was the "Global Holiday", a 15-minute walk in which fairgoers visit such faraway places as a bustling Hong Kong street, a serene Indian garden, a Bavarian ski lodge, a Cambodian forest, and the harbor of Rio de Janeiro.

Here's the Eastern Air Lines pavilion; if you flew on Eastern with a "World's Fair ticket", you would be shuttled from Idlewild/La Guardia to our exclusive World's Fair terminal... with telephones, rest rooms, baggage facilities ... and more. Seems like a pretty sweet deal!

9 comments:

these are great!! so many new views for us to enjoy. i certainly would have loved being a fairgoer who visited those faraway places!

the skyway....beautiful! i havent ever noticed before that this one has two separate rides for twice the fun! just think, you could ride one, get off and run over to ride the other one back...i do stuff like that!

The pictures are interesting because they show how important control of small details are in contributing to the ambiance of the place.

The look of the Coke Pavillion isn't helped by the TV antenna, and the oil can stuffed with garbage in front of Eastern Air Lines is a real mood killer.

Notice how stark the buildings look (Eastern again is a good example). 1960's landscapers had not discovered "foundation plantings", (the small bushes that are placed directly against the walls of a building). These plants soften the lines of the building and make it look less brutal.

TM!, the family of four looks like all heads are bowed in prayer, but then again, dad has that "counting his change" posture. As for the women to the left, I'm guess that it's a mom and daughter (and some other woman), but maybe it's something altogether different! What about the dude with the plaid jacket and floods?

Nancy, you are correct; Freedomland's sky ride also was double the fun.

Katella, it seems clear that some buildings took more care than others. Given the cheapness of the building, I'm not surprised that Eastern wouldn't sweat details like the rusty oil drum trash can. I agree, a few bushes would have gone a long way towards making everything a little more "homey"; but I'm guessing that designers figured they only had 2 years, so why bother!

The floor in the jungle scene in Coca-Cola was made from foam rubber with fake dirt and leaves scattered on top. I thought it was cool how the floor was soft. Remember, I was 8 years old! Dennis D. Levittown NY

The Coke pavilion became infamous when a boy ran away from home and camped out in the jungle scene and in a lifeboat for several days. They finally spotted him fishing coins out of a fountain - he was buying food with them. You can read about him here http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/articles/daily-news/5-17-64-fairly-eager-boy.jpg and http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/articles/misc/washington-post-5-20-64.pdf

When I first read those stories I mentioned that I would have liked to done that myself - I was the same age. My parents quickly laid down the law on that idea!!